Want to test how important sight is as a sexual sense? Deprive yourself of it. Wear a blindfold. Suddenly, making love takes on a new dimension. Unable to see your partner's eyes, you have no advance warning of his or her mood or state of arousal. You can't predict where you'll be touched--or if you'll be touched at all. Your other senses kick in to give you as much information as possible. You're listening closer, tracking each touch, and your brain is scanning to anticipate what's going to happen next. You're in a state of anticipation, perhaps heightened arousal.

But as enjoyable as this blindfold game may be, at some point you'll be ready to say it's enough, aching to return sight to your lovemaking.

Our eyes are such wonderful sexual aids. Certainly we can be erotic without sight: The blind say their sense of touch is more refined because they "see" people through their fingers. But those of us who are sighted depend on our eyes to telegraph to our brain important information: who excites us, for example, and who does not. We crave the new and exotic, yet we also scan for old favorites, sights that key our responses because our body is used to responding to certain cues.

Some research indicates this is especially true for men. I've heard it said that the favorite sex toy among men is a mirror because men revel in the visual aspect of lovemaking. Women, on the other hand, are often intimidated by being seen nude or in various stages of passion--afraid, having been exposed to impossibly exacting cultural standards, that their bodies are flawed and will not pass muster. This is unfortunate.

Watching your partner disrobe, observing your lovemaking, seeing expressions of pleasure--these are aphrodisiacs. Making love in a dark room may be culturally normal, but it deprives us of one of our most enriching sexual senses.